Historical Note - Week of July 12th

Over 2,000 miles West from Pennsylvania stands a stone, commemorating the service of a Civil War Union Army soldier. During the war his name was Jacob Bach where he served in Company A of the 2nd Pennsylvania Cavalry. Bach enlisted on February 17th, 1865 in Philadelphia as a private at the age of 20. Nothing is known of his life following the war, how he made his way to Cooke City, Montana, or why he later went by the name George Fisher. It all remains a mystery to be solved. Sadly his death certificate states his death was by suicide and the following was printed in the Saco Independent, July 14, 1916:

SUICIDES AS WEALTH COMES

Old Montana Prospector Found Dead – Leaves Money to Friend

Livingston. – With $500 in money on the table before him and a contract for the sale of his mining properties for $17,000 clutched in his hand, the body of George Fisher, an old prospector of the Cooke City district, was found by neighbors, who missed him from his usual haunts.

Fisher had shot himself in the temple. It is believed he thought he had parted with his mines at too low a figure. Fisher always believed his mines had a great future and that he would some day be enormously wealthy. He willed all his money and effects to a friend. He was unmarried and, so far as known, had no relatives.

George Fisher (aka Jacob Bach) gravestone in the Cooke City Cemetery

Photo courtesy Chuck James